Dan Ashkenazi

Who is Dan Ashkenazi?

Dan Ashkenazi was a 13th-century German Talmudist and exegete. He was a prominent Talmudists of Germany and the teacher of Mordecai ben Hillel.

He emigrated to Spain toward the end of the 13th century, probably in consequence of the cruel persecutions to which the Jews of Germany were subjected at that time, when many were driven to seek asylum in other countries.

In Spain, where he was called "Ashkenazi", he met the foremost rabbinical authorities, who thought highly of him. Dan, however, was so imprudent as to give a letter of recommendation to a youth who pretended to be a prophet; and when the latter turned it to account, Solomon Adret cast scorn upon the German rabbi in his circular letter on the pseudoprophet. Even before this occurrence the relations between these two men do not seem to have been very friendly, since Dan declared at Saragossa that, from the strict point of view of the Halakah, there could be no objection to the slaughtering of animals by Christians, as the reason given in the Talmud for forbidding the slaughtering of animals by pagans did not apply to Christians; for the pagan regarded the slaughtering as a sacrifice to his idols, while the same could not be said of the Christians.